The Second Prophecy
by ejhawman
Summary: Plot bunny. A new prophecy warns of Harry turning dark. Available for adoption.


Another idea for getting Harry away from the Dursleys early.

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February 1982:

Albus Dumbledore appeared in the Ministry in a burst of green flame. There was no one in the entrance hall; he had set the appointment past rush hour. Best to let the crowd thin out while he could get things done in his office.

He strode quickly to the atrium, past the golden statue representing peace and unity among the magical races. Some Muggleborns said it was a sick joke. Dumbledore thought it represented a goal yet to be fully achieved. Perhaps it would be possible to make more progress in that direction, if Voldemort could be smoked out of his hiding place soon.

Bagnold was standing in the atrium, a noncommittal look on her face. A secretary stood just behind her and to one side. Albus adopted a warm smile of greeting. "Good day, Milly. Everything well?"

"For the moment." She gave the Hogwarts Headmaster a polite handshake and led him to a lift. "Terrible business, this. Such a tragedy..."

"Renata did not survive, then?" Sadness tinged Dumbledore's voice. He had known Renata for more than seventy years. She was younger than him, and arguably at least as valuable to the magical world, perhaps even more so.

Bagnold hit the button for the Department of Mysteries. "Not entirely surprising, when a seer is hit with a fugue like this. I can't help but wonder what we will be blind to now she's gone."

Dumbledore noticed the Minister did look to be in better spirits these days. Her job was getting easier since Voldemort's fall. A mere seven years ago she had seemed washed up, a spent force, losing the brass ring one time too many; the younger generation was moving into power, crowding out her chances for the long-coveted Minister's seat.

Then came the rise of Voldemort, and the infiltration of the Ministry, and the division of the magical world, and one confidence vote after another had removed Milly's rivals. She had expected to follow them, but for Dumbledore taking matters into his own hands, forming his Order of the Phoenix, and finally making headway against the Death Eaters.

Even so, it was a hard fight, and Voldemort's fall was quite unexpected. Exactly what had happened in Godric's Hollow was still the subject of speculation; but few wanted to accept Dumbledore's theory that Voldemort was not wholly dead. No one wanted to face the prospect of renewed war.

The lift went straight down without taking on any memos. A recorded witch's voice announced, "Department of Mysteries." The three passengers filed out and walked down the bare black stone corridor to the entrance to the DoM.

"You're sure this concerns me?" Dumbledore asked.

"She mentioned the Phoenix and the Snake. And the Vanquisher, at least now we know who _he _is."

A more genuine smile began to creep onto Dumbledore's face. So, here was a chance the Ministry would now believe his theory about Voldemort's survival. Until now, he had been a lone voice in the wilderness. If they accepted the validity of Renata's dying words, his case would be boosted immeasurably.

The figure standing in front of the door at the end of the hall wore a hooded cloak and mask. The Department's researchers forsook name, family, identity; these things could be vulnerabilities to the magics they dealt with. They did not speak of their work; no one outside spoke of them. Bagnold passed the Unspeakable a scrap of parchment, which quickly disappeared under the cloak.

The Unspeakable turned to face the door. It had no handle; it simply opened, probably at a nonverbal command. The group walked into the hub room or the Department of Mysteries and followed their guide into Time Section.

The ended up in a small room with a table. They waited as their guide left for a minute and returned with a wooden box. The box was placed gently on the table and hinged open. The velvet-lined interior held a crystal recording globe. Albus had been informed of it as soon as it had been made. There had seemed to be no sense of urgency concerning it, so he had simply added a viewing to his schedule, without changing anything around. It had arrived from France three days ago, and now everyone was about to find out what Renata had to say to Albus Dumbledore.

The secretary was ready with quill and parchment. The Headmaster of Hogwarts reached out and picked up the quartz sphere. A ghostly figure rose from it, revolving, speaking in the sort of reverberating voice all present knew marked a connection with forces beyond the ken of mortal men. There were some minutes of indistinct whisperings, then vague pronouncements, before the voice grew strong.

_"... night slain by day, turning to night... Fallen is the Dark Lord... his Vanquisher hidden, protected by the Phoenix. Yet the Snake's minions do not dream of vengeance. But beware, lest the egregious error be repeated! For the seed will thrive in farm or field, but it is planted in poisoned ground! That which protects would also corrupt, and the seed blossom into darkness more terrible than that which he has defeated! Let the Phoenix beware that the egregious not return... from darkness we come, to darkness we may return..." _

"This was all of it?" Albus asked.

"All that we believe concerns you," the Unspeakable said. "She was in terminal decline, she said many things over a period of days. It will take all year to parse it all."

"May I have a more complete transcript?"

"A copy was sent to the Supreme Mugwump's office automatically."

"Very well," Albus grunted. He would be catching up with his various correspondence in that role next weekend. There was no hurry.

The recording finished, Albus placed the crystal ball back in the box. The Unspeakable held out a parchment - a bureaucratic document, a record of viewing. All present signed it before leaving.

Back in the corridor on their way to the lift, Bagnold was the first to speak. "That was... unusually clear."

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed. "All the more disturbing for that..."

Albus was not above manipulating people to achieve his objectives; all his life, he had been focused on "the Greater Good." But only a true Seer could see the best methods for doing that good. Albus did not have the gift himself; he had learned to trust those who did. People like Renata.

Renata Morgenstern was the most powerful and accurate Seer out of Beauxbatons since Nostradamus. She was born German, but she had chosen Beauxbatons over Durmstrang, graduating class of 1907. She had ignored offers of employment from Ministries across Europe to set up practice in a jungle village in Brazil. In 1913, she had moved to Paradise Island near Bermuda, the all-magical Unplottable island already giving rise to Muggle legends of a "Bermuda Triangle". In 1919, she had taken a teaching position at Salem, remaining until 1945, when she returned to France to help rebuild the European magical order in the aftermath of Grindelwald's fall.

As Divination instructor at Beauxbatons, she had been in a perfect position to give forewarning of critical events in Britain without drawing Voldemort's attention. Throughout the 20th Century, she had given prophecies of unusual accuracy, and sometimes even with clarity. A few had proven key in the recent fight against Voldemort; if she was now saying the fight was not yet over, she had to be taken seriously.

She was saying Harry did not need the safety of the blood wards Albus had so painstakingly cast to protect him. Given that, there was no reason to keep him with the Dursleys. But he knew that alone would not have been enough to incite him to move Harry to another family. Minerva might not like it, but he was inclined to keep Harry with his own blood as long as their treatment of him did not lead to outright catastrophe.

Renata was saying that it would. The terms were familiar to anyone who has heard or read as many prophecies as he had. The "egregious error" was no doubt a historical reference to Egbert, who had slain the Dark Lord Emeric, literally stabbing him in the back. The wizarding world had hailed him as its saviour... until he picked up where Emeric had left off, and proved even worse. In popular memory he had been given the eponym "the Egregious", to distinguish him as worse than Emeric, who became simply "the Evil".

So, Harry was the seed "planted in poisoned ground" - the Dursleys. Minerva was right; they were the worst sort of Muggles. But he had hoped that Harry would at least survive unscathed in their care. Suddenly that didn't seem like a reasonable gamble.

If not there, where? "Farm or field" was a common enough reference. Muggles, being the greater part of humanity, were often referenced in prophecy as "the wilderness" or "the field" or "the country", in contrast to the (magically) inhabited world of "the farm" or "the town". Both seemed to be options, as long as the boy were moved _somewhere_ else.

He wanted to find some flaw with it, interpret it as simply a risk warning, not a certainty, and think his plans thus far were unchanged. But he had known this woman. He knew how valuable her prophecies had been. And this was a deathbed prophecy, often far more clear and reliable than normal. Under the circumstances, Albus knew he had no choice but to trust it.

"So... what will you do?" Bagnold asked. "It sounds as if your plans must change."

"Not so much, really. If I can be assured he will be safe with a different family, he will be moved."

"Will you tell me where, this time?"

"Possibly," Albus sighed. "Secrecy is still paramount, you know."

Bagnold grimaced at him. This was a sore point between them of late. The Minister of Magic figured if anyone should know where the recent saviour of the Wizarding world was, she should. It wasn't like she had ever been accused of being under Imperius or in the pocket of Death Eaters. The real problem was, she was a pureblood, with very typical pureblood sensibilities. And most of pureblood society regarded the prospect of a magical child being raised by Muggles in much the same way as Muggles regarded their children being raised by (ordinary) wolves. To have Harry Potter of all people raised by Muggles, even his own relatives, would be outrageous. If he had allowed her to know Harry was staying with the Dursleys, she would have had leverage over him: she would be able to threaten to let slip to the Wizarding public that Harry was among Muggles, and Albus doubted he could head off every curious wizard and would-be investigator for the next ten years. Once word got out, he would be hard pressed to maintain magical guardianship of the boy. The present situation was dangerous enough: once Harry started going to Hogwarts, the secret would be out once and for all, and the Headmaster could only hope that the public would be more forgiving by then.

"I know Lucius will be delighted to take him..." the Minister offered.

"Lucius is the last person I would leave him with. All those who claim to have been acting only under Imperius are suspect."

"Some good people were under Imperius. Would you deny the ability of Diggory? Edgecombe?"

"We cannot afford to take any risks, not with such stakes. I would offer him to the Weasleys, did they not have their hands full."

"Augusta, then. Place the two children of the prophecy together."

"I have my doubts about her ability to raise Neville. Harry would do no worse than him, perhaps, but we have the chance with him to do better." He tapped his cheek in thought. "I should like to act quickly. He should be moved within a week. I should have found the best place for him by then."

They entered the lift and returned to the atrium, where they parted ways. Albus hoped Bagnold wouldn't press hard on the matter of Harry's location. He was inclined to keep him among Muggles; or at least, away from contact with the general Wizarding public, who would fawn over him all the time. He had seen too many boys spoiled by overly favorable attention in his time as teacher and Headmaster. If, as he suspected, Harry would still have to play the hero, he would need a proper heroic character for it.

He headed toward the floo ports, his mind on planning out his schedule for the coming weeks. It shouldn't be too hard to find a suitable Muggle family to take in an orphan boy. Then he would be back to the same condition as before, with the same outlook, and the same ongoing requirement: keeping Harry's location secret and preparing the wizarding world for it in ten years' time...

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Up for adoption from this point.

Stipulations: Harry will not be with any overt enemy, like the Malfoys or Snape. If he is placed with a Muggle family, it should be OC.

There is room for the Minister and select friends of Dumbledore to know where Harry is. It seems to make sense that Dumbledore would try to keep the location secret from everyone possible, including close friends, but he DID allow McGonagall and Hagrid to know, rather than moving Harry entirely on his own. If the secret gets out, well... Rowling handwaves a lot of stupidity on their part. They might see nothing strange in Harry staying with Muggles. If you prefer a more logical universe, they wouldn't stand for Harry with a Muggle family, and Dumbledore seems pretty committed to keeping him away from magicals, so you have a clear division - if you put Harry with a magical family, Dumbledore must have failed to keep the secret and lost control of his placement.


End file.
